December 16, 2016

Lakeith Stanfield will be putting on his Sunday best for Netflix.
The Atlanta star will join Chiwetel Ejiofor in the real-life drama Come Sunday, based on a 2005 This American Life segment titled 'Heretics.'
Come Sunday follows the story of a minister (Ejiofor) in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who loses his congregation of thousands following the revelation that he no longer believes in Hell.
Stanfield will play the music director of a megachurch who is also the devoted right-hand man of Ejiofor's minister.
In 2010, the feature was originally set up as a directing vehicle for World War Z helmer Marc Forster, but the directing reins have since been handed over Joshua Marston. Marcus Hinchey wrote the screenplay.
This American Life host Ira Glass will produce, along with Alissa Shipp and Endgame Entertainment’s James D. Stern.
Come Sunday marks the third Netflix feature for Stanfield. He will appear in the military satire War Machine from Brad Pitt and will star in the highly anticipated Death Note adaptation, which was originally set up at Warner Bros. before it headed over to the streaming giant.
Stanfield, whose past film credits include Short Term 12, Straight Outta Compton and Oliver Stone's Snowden, was recently featured on The Hollywood Reporter's Next Gen Talent list. He will soon head to Sundance with the real-life drama Crown Heights, also adapted from a This American Life segment.
He is repped by CAA, Colin Stark and Ginsburg Daniels.

Chiwetel Ejiofor in Talks to Star Opposite Robert Redford in Netflix Film 'Come Sunday'

July 26, 2016

Chiwetel Ejiofor is joining the Netflix flock.
The 12 Years a Slave star is in negotiations to portray an evangelical minister in the true-story film Come Sunday for the streaming giant. Joshua Marston (Maria Full of Grace) is directing.
Ejiofor will star opposite Robert Redford, who is set to play Oral Roberts, as The Hollywood Reporter previously reported.
Based on a This American Life episode from 2005, Come Sunday chronicles the story of Carlton Pearson (Ejiofor), a renowned evangelical minister in Tulsa, Okla., who stirs up controversy with his revelation that there is no hell. He loses everything and must rebuild his church and his family and find his own personal faith. Marcus Hinchey (All Good Things) wrote the screenplay.
The project, formerly titled Heretics, was originally set up at Endgame Entertainment in 2010 as a directing vehicle for Marc Forster, who will be involved as an executive producer. Jeffrey Wright had previously been in talks to take on the starring role of Pearson, and Jonathan Demme also flirted with the long-gestating project. Endgame (Looper) is financing and producing, with production scheduled to begin in January.
Endgame's James D. Stern is producing Come Sunday alongside This American Life's Ira Glass and Alissa Shipp. Color Force's Brad Simpson, who was involved in the project when Forster was developing it, is executive producing.
Julie Goldstein and Lucas Smith are overseeing the project for Endgame.
Come Sunday is the latest pedigree film that Netflix has boarded in recent months. The company also announced on Tuesday that it is teaming with John Wells to bring a feature film about the Panama Papers to the screen. It also has the big-budget Will Smith starrer Bright on the horizon.
Ejiofor, who co-starred in last year's The Martian, will next appear as Baron Karl Mordo in Doctor Strange.
He is repped by CAA and attorney Robert S. Wallerstein.
Marston, whose Complete Unknown debuted at Sundance in January, is repped by WME, Anonymous Content and Epstein, Levinsohn.

Netflix Takes 'The Discovery' Starring Rooney Mara, Robert Redford

June 13, 2016

Netflix has acquired worldwide rights to love story The Discovery from The One I Love director Charlie McDowell.
Rooney Mara, Robert Redford and Jason Segel star in the film, which is written by McDowell and Justin Lader. The film is set one year after the existence of the afterlife is scientifically verified. Redford plays the scientist responsible for the discovery, while Segel portrays his son Will and Mara plays Isla, a woman haunted by a tragic past who Will begins to fall in love with.
The project also stars Jesse Plemons, Riley Keough and Ron Canada. It was produced by Alex Orlovsky of Verisimilitude and James D. Stern of Endgame Entertainment, and was co-financed by Endgame Entertainment and Protagonist Pictures. Mike Goodridge and Dimitra Tsingou for Protagonist executive produced along with Julie Goldstein and Lucas Smith for Endgame.
“To describe the story as original doesn’t begin to capture the world that Charlie has created that will envelop you,” said Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos. “Our global viewers are going to love this film."
It will premiere on Netflix and in select theaters in the U.S. in 2017.
The deal was negotiated by Protagonist, ICM Partners and WME Global.

Robert Redford & Jason Segel join Rooney Mara in 'The Discovery'

March 9, 2016

Robert Redford and Jason Segel have joined Rooney Mara in Charlie McDowell’s The Discovery. Segel is replacing the originally cast Nicholas Hoult, who is said to have dropped out of the picture which is scheduled to go before the cameras later this month because of scheduling conflicts. The actor had been attached to the picture since last fall. The film, written by McDowell and Justin Lader, will shoot in Rhode Island.
It’s not clear what Hoult’s scheduling conflict is, but it could be the fact that he joined director’s Xavier Dolan’s English-language debut The Death And Life Of John F. Donovan opposite Natalie Portman and Thandie Newton. That project is scheduled to shoot this spring.
Produced by Alex Orlovsky of Verisimilitude and James D. Stern of Endgame Entertainment, and financed by Endgame and Protagonist Pictures, The Discovery is a sci-fi story set two years after the discovery of an afterlife that has been scientifically proven where millions of people have taken their own lives in order to start over. Segel plays the son of the man (Redford) responsible for the discovery, and Mara plays a woman he falls in love with whose life is tinged by a tragic past.
Julie Goldstein and Lucas Smith will oversee the project for Endgame. Mike Goodridge, Dimitra Tsingou and Eddie Vaisman are overseeing for Protagonist.
This is McDowell’s second feature after the critically acclaimed The One I Love which starred Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss.
ICM Partners and WME Global packaged the project and are representing domestic rights for the film. Protagonist is handling international rights. ICM Partners represents McDowell and Lader. McDowell is also repped by Kenny Goodman at MGMT Management. Redford and Mara are repped by WME. Segel is repped by WME and Abrams Entertainment.